Review: American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship, by Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov

Abstract

Book Review| May 01 2023 Review: American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship, by Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov. American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2021. 304 pp. Paperback $34.29. Margaret Kuo Margaret Kuo MARGARET KUO is a professor of history at California State University, Long Beach. She is the author of Intolerable Cruelty: Marriage, Law, and Society in Early Twentieth-Century China (2012). Her current research examines gender and law in Asian and Asian American history. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (2): 115–117. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.115 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Margaret Kuo; Review: American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship, by Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov. California History 1 May 2023; 100 (2): 115–117. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.115 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search A list of landmark Supreme Court cases related to racial discrimination usually begins with Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), passes through the “separate but equal” finding of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and ends triumphantly with Brown v. Board of Education (1954). A longer list might include Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), Korematsu v. United States (1944), and Loving v. Virginia (1967). The impressive book under review helps make the case for why United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) should be among these decisions of first-order historical significance. The case is duly celebrated as a major legal victory for Asian Americans. At a time when Chinese laborers were barred from entry to the United States and Chinese residents were denied naturalization rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Chinese born in the United States were entitled to birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. Drawing upon past studies that situate Wong... You do not currently have access to this content.